Forges Partnership with Veritas Genetics to Accelerate Creation of
Trusted Marketplace for Genomic Data as a Foundation for Data-Driven
Medicine

August 29, 2018 10:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nebula Genomics announced today that it has raised $4.3M million in seed
financing with participation from 10 leading venture capital firms. The
funds will support the company’s mission to usher in the era of personal
genome sequencing by creating a trusted, secure, and decentralized
marketplace for genomic data. The company also has forged a partnership
with Veritas Genetics, the leading whole genome sequencing and
interpretation company, that will connect the Nebula marketplace to
Veritas’ Arvados open-source software platform.

“As a people-first firm and early-stage investor, we always begin with
the entrepreneur as our first step,” said Tim Chang of Mayfield. “Kamal
and Dennis have a unique vision of leveraging blockchain to enable
consumer genetic sequencing at scale, and the involvement of genomics
pioneer George Church makes this a dream team. When you combine that
with Nebula’s unique business model and incentive design, we believe the
company can grow into a leading pioneer of the genomics age.”

The coming genomic age holds immense promise for the development of
personalized medicine, improving patient outcomes, and improving the
quality of human life. To realize that potential, researchers need
streamlined access to the individual genomes of millions or billions of
people -- individuals who are reluctant to share their genomes today
because of concerns over privacy, trust, control and cost. Nebula’s
marketplace will address those concerns directly, using blockchain and
other technologies to put consumers in control of their genomic data, as
well as by compensating individuals directly for the use of their data.
That will encourage an ever-growing number of consumers to participate
in the marketplace and create an essential resource for advances in
research.

“Our investors, along with Veritas, share our commitment to lowering
access barriers to genomic data, and solving one of the primary
roadblocks preventing personalized medicine becoming a reality today,”
said Kamal Obbad, CEO & co-founder of Nebula Genomics. “With this
funding we are moving closer to a new age in personalized medicine.”

“As genome sequencing inches towards mass adoption, security and privacy
concerns remain core barriers,” said Robert Nelsen, managing director of
Arch Venture Partners, whose past investments included Illumina and
GRAIL. “Nebula’s team has architected a unique decentralized system that
protects data while still making it easily accessible for researchers.”

The partnership with Veritas enables the Nebula marketplace to build
upon the existing advantages of the open-source software platform
Arvados. Developed by Veritas, Arvados is the most-widely used
open-source platform for storing, sharing and analyzing genomic data –
currently exceeding 20 petabytes of data. It is used globally by
researchers, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions.

One of the unique features of the federated Arvados platform is that it
allows consented data to be queried regardless the data’s location.
Therefore, various data sets can be physically stored and managed
according to local rules and regulations, especially those concerning
privacy and protection. The Nebula marketplace will leverage this
federation to enable individuals and institutions to exchange and trade
access to the data with the benefits of blockchain-based privacy and
smart contracts.

“Privacy and security issues are on everyone's mind and blockchain is a
promising way to address both,” said Mirza Cifric, CEO of Veritas
Genetics. “As our own database grows to many petabytes, together with
the Nebula team we are taking the lead in our industry to protect the
privacy of consumers while enabling them to participate in research and
benefit from the blockchain-based marketplace Nebula is building.”

An innovative health data marketplace

Nebula’s talent and deep experience in adapting technologies for the
blockchain, combined with Veritas’ genomic expertise and platform, will
enable the creation of a large and trusted genomic and health data
marketplace to accelerate genomic data growth and facilitate genomic
data access. Data buyers will subsidize the cost of genome sequencing
and interpretation, providing a strong incentive for consumers to
participate.

Once their genome is sequenced, consumers will store and manage their
own data via Arvados, an open source distributed biomedical data storage
and computing platform widely used by researchers in industry and at
academic institutions. Consumers will be able to choose how much and
with whom their data is shared, with all the security and transparency
advantages offered by blockchain.

In the Nebula marketplace consumers for the first time can receive
compensation for their health data via a cryptocurrency token-based
payment system created by Nebula Genomics. This directly addresses
consumer concerns over the practice of medical and genomic data brokers
to sell personal health data to third parties.

“Compared to centralized databases, Nebula’s decentralized and federated
architecture will help address privacy concerns and incentivize data
sharing. Our goal is to create a data flow that will accelerate medical
research and catalyze a transformation of health care,” added Dennis
Grishin, CSO & co-founder of Nebula Genomics.

About Nebula Genomics

Nebula Genomics is a human genome sequencing and health big data company
on a mission to usher in the era of genomic sequencing by building a
large and trusted genomic and health data marketplace for consumers,
researchers and the medical community. Using blockchain to ensure that
consumers maintain control of their data and are compensated for its
use, the Nebula marketplace will aggregate a critical mass of rich
genetic information that researchers can analyze in order to accelerate
drug development, streamline clinical trials, and usher in the era of
truly personalized medicine. The company was founded by Harvard genomics
pioneer George Church, along with Harvard researchers Dennis Grishin and
Kamal Obbad. Founded in 2017, Nebula Genomics has offices in San
Francisco, CA and Boston, MA and is backed by investors including Khosla
Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Fenbushi Capital, Mayfield, F-Prime
Capital Partners, Great Point Ventures, Windham Venture Partners, Hemi
Ventures, Mirae Asset, Hikma Ventures and Heartbeat Labs. For more
information, follow @NebulaGenomics on Twitter
and Facebook
or visit nebula.org.

About Veritas Genetics

Veritas is The Genome Company. We screen the majority of an
individual’s DNA through whole genome sequencing and interpretation to
provide insights on inherited disease risks, carrier status, drug
sensitivities, traits and ancestry. Our mission is to help people
understand their genetics and make more informed health and lifestyle
decisions with the involvement of their physician and access to skilled
genetic counselors. Co-founded in 2014 by George Church and leading
scientists from the Personal Genome Project at Harvard Medical School,
Veritas operates globally from its offices in the U.S., Europe and
China. The company has been recognized twice by MIT Technology Review
as one of the 50 Smartest Companies in 2016 and 2017, by Fast
Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the World in
2018, and by CNBC as a 2018 Disruptor 50 Company. For more
information, follow @VeritasGenetics on Facebook
and Twitter
or visit veritasgenetics.com.
For more information on Arvados, visit arvados.org